German giants Hamburg send an SOS to club legend Kevin Keegan

Fallen German giants Hamburg are offering Kevin Keegan a sensational return to management.

The ambitious Bundesliga side are still reeling after failing to reach the Europa League final at their own stadium and finishing a poor seventh in the league.

Chairman Bernd Hoffman wants to restore the club to its glorious past and sees former star Keegan, who took them to the 1980 European Cup final against Nottingham Forest, as the man to take the club forward.

Club legend: Kevin Keegan played for Hamburg in the Bundesliga in the 1970s

Hamburg sacked coach Bruno Labbadia last season just three days before the second leg of their Europa League semi-final against Fulham. They had been humiliated 5-1 by Hoffenheim in a league game which effectively ended their hopes of European qualification and the subsequent loss to Fulham denied them a showpiece final at their own Nordbank Arena.

Former Tottenham coach Ricardo Moniz has been put in temporary charge but Hoffman and his board believe Keegan, who scored 32 goals in 90 games for them between 1977 and 1980, can lift the club and the fans.

The former Newcastle manager, who is fluent in German, has been working as a pundit with ESPN but has made no secret of his desire to find a new challenge.

He has privately admitted that if Newcastle owner Mike Ashley had compromised over his role in player recruitment, he may still have been at St James’ Park. Instead the spectacular fall-out led to Keegan securing a £2million pay-off for constructive dismissal.

Dug out of a hole: Kevin Keegan's last taste of life in the dugout came during an ill-fated spell at Newcastle

However, Hamburg now want to give him the freedom to create a side capable of challenging Bayern Munich for the title and qualify for Europe.

They are ready to bankroll rebuilding with a transfer budget of around £25m and will offer players decent contracts, as they demonstrated last season with their capture of Ruud van Nistelrooy.

Keegan would also find himself face to face with another former England manager — Steve McClaren at Wolfsburg.

As a player, Keegan helped Hamburg win their first Bundesliga title in 19 years after joining from Liverpool and Hoffman hopes he can have the same effect this time around.

Hamburg fans, who dubbed him ‘Mighty Mouse’, fete him in the same way he is adored on Tyneside and club insiders say it is all down to whether Keegan believes in the project and is ready to abandon business interests in England.